Criminal Justice, BS

Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Program leads to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice and supports the Bachelor of Applied Science Degree with courses applicable to the Criminal Justice, Community and Mental Health, and Legal Studies tracks. The program has two main objectives: to provide an advanced understanding of the criminal justice system and its components and to provide either a concentration of knowledge and application of skills in a specialized subfield of study or a broad exploration of the discipline based on individual student needs through the selection of disciplinary electives.

The curriculum is planned to offer preparation for a professional career by integrating a core of Criminal Justice courses into a general program of the arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences. The student in consultation with faculty will determine the most desirable course offerings from core courses and recommended electives to achieve his or her particular educational goals. The program may be used as preparation for entry into graduate work or law school. Criminal Justice courses are recommended as social science electives for non-majors.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

Demonstrate an understanding of the operation and purposes of the major components of the criminal justice system (police, courts, and corrections)

Demonstrate the ability to critically analyze the criminal justice system and its aims and objectives

Demonstrate the ability to apply professional standards of writing and research to criminal justice issues

Program Requirements

The Criminal Justice major requires a minimum of 33 semester hours, 27 semester hours of which must be at the upper-division level. Supporting courses related to essential skills totaling 7 hours are also required. Criminal Justice majors are encouraged to take MATH 1442 to satisfy the Mathematics Core Curriculum Program requirement. Students who do not take MATH 1442 in the Core Curriculum will be required to do so to fulfill the supporting coursework requirement for majors. Criminal Justice majors must complete the Systems Requirement in the Core, CRIJ
1301 or CRIJ 1313, within their first 12 credit hours of Criminal Justice courses. No more than 21 semester hours of lower-division criminal justice credit may be applied to fulfill baccalaureate degree requirements. The College Liberal Arts also requires students in Criminal Justice to take at least 6 hours of a second language.

Students seeking the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice are expected to develop a breadth of knowledge of the component parts of the criminal justice system. Through their choice of disciplinary electives, students may concentrate on Criminal Justice subfields or broadly explore the discipline and its career options. Students should select a majority of their upper-division elective hours from disciplines which support their choice of specialization.